International Journal of Electronics and

Communication Engineering (IJECE)

ISSN(P): 2278-9901; ISSN(E): 2278-991X
Vol. 4, Issue 5, Aug - Sep 2015, 1-8
© IASET

DIELECTRIC STUDY OF BaZr0.5Ti0.5O3 FERROELECTRIC RELAXOR CERAMIC

RENUKA CHAUHAN & R. C. SRIVASTAVA

Department of Physics, G.B. Pant University of Ag. & Technology, Pantnagar, India

ABSTRACT

The nanoparticle of barium zirconate titanate (BZT) ceramic was synthesized by solid state reaction method at
1200°C. Single perovskite phase having cubic symmetry is confirmed by X-Ray Diffraction. There are two transition
temperatures present around 200K and 330K. The dielectric properties reveal that BZT is a relaxor ferroelectric confirmed
by diffusion of two phases (tetragonal and cubic phase). The dielectric constant of BZT ceramics exhibited broad peaks
curve near the Tm. This behavior may be caused by the inhomogeneous distribution of Zr4+ ions into the Ti sites and/or by
the mechanical stresses on the grains. The broadness indicates the diffuse phase transition from ferroelectric to paraelectric
phase. That is to say, there is diffuse transition behavior in BaZr0.5Ti0.5O3 ceramics.

KEYWORDS: XRD, Dielectric Constant, Ferroelectric, Relaxor

INTRODUCTION

Relaxor ferroelectric materials have the considerable attention due to the wide applications in the
electromechanical transducers, acoustic sensors and multilayer capacitors and medical ultrasonic etc. [1, 2]. The
piezoelectric property of these materials facilitate in the field of sensing and actuating elastic changes. Barium titanate
(BaTiO3) is the most common ferroelectric oxide in the perovskite ABO3 structure, which is used as a capacitor because of
its high dielectric constant [3, 4, 5]. In order to reduce the dielectric loss at low frequencies, ZrO2 was doped into BaTiO3
to form barium zirconate titanate (BaZrxTi1-xO3) [6]. BZT has attracted great attention for its potential applications for the
microwave technology [9, 10], due to its high dielectric constant, low dielectric loss and large tunability [11]. In recent
years, many studies are focused on preparation, microstructure and dielectric properties of BZT materials [7, 8 and 12].
The conventional preparation of BZT ceramics is solid state reaction between oxides and carbonates at high temperature.
The method requires repeated cycles of mixing respective oxides and calcinations at high temperature to achieve complete
phase formation. Moreover, the powders are easily agglomerated and often contaminated by impurities incorporated from
grinding media or incomplete reactions, and the grain size of the ceramics is inhomogeneous. When Zr content increases
up to x ~ 0.20 is observed the limit between ferroelectric/relaxor behavior [13, 14]. Ravez and Simon [15] reported a
typical relaxor like behavior in BZT ceramics with Zr content up to x ≥ 0.25. Tang et al. [16] showed that the BZT
ceramics with a high Zr content (x = 0.30 and 0.35) present a ‘‘slim’’ hysteresis loop, which is a typical relaxor
ferroelectric behavior due to the existence of micro polar regions. BZT presents good dielectric properties due to its low
dielectric loss and reasonable dielectric constant [17-19]. The microwave dielectric properties of this material are
interesting for the development of capacitive and nonvolatile memory cells (DRAM’s and FeRAM’s) [20–22].

Experimental

The nanoparticle of barium zirconate titanate was prepared by solid state reaction method. The mixture of barium
carbonate (BaCO3), zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were mixed together in 1:0.5:0.5 molar ratio and

www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us
 2 Renuka Chauhan & R. C. Srivastava

ground for 7 hrs with a mortar and pestle to prepare barium zirconate titanate. Wet mixing was done with ethanol to obtain
a homogeneous powder mixture. This was followed by pre-sintering in a furnace for 5 hrs at 600 °C and then reground
before final sintering at 1200 °C for 5 hrs. The dry mixtures were granulated by adding 4 wt % polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)
binder, and pressed into pellets having thickness of 1-2 mm and the diameter of 10 mm by applying a pressure of 10 MPa.
The pellets were dried at 100 °C for overnight and finally sintered in closed double crucibles at optimized temperature of
1100 °C for 4 h with a heating rate of 5°C/min and natural cooling rate. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern was recorded
using D8-Discover system of M/s Brucker (Germany), equipped with Cu-Kα radiation (λ=0.154 nm) with scan step of
0.0020 and a counting time of 0.5s/step in the range of 2θ=20-800. The dielectric properties of the samples were measured
with an Agilent 4285A precision LCR meter in the frequency range 20 kHz to 2MHz.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Figure 1: XRD Pattern of Bazr0.5Ti0.5O3 Ceramic

X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

The XRD patterns of the BaZr0.5Ti0.5O3 nanoparticles after final sintering at 1200 °C are shown in the figure 1.
It shows the pure phase formation of the BZT nanoparticles.

The composition Ba(Ti0.5Zr0.5)O3, was indexed in cubic system (space group Pm-3m) and the pattern was very
similar to the standard PDF-2 card No. 36-0019 (for Cubic Ba(Ti0.75Zr0.25)O3). It has been suggested that the solid solution
Ba (Ti1-xZrx)O3 does not exist for x>0.42 [26]. However, in the present investigation the solid solution Ba(Ti0.5Zr0.5)O3 was
found to exist as a single phase perovskite.

The crystallite size was determined by using the Scherrer formula [13] form the most instance peak (311)

0. 9 λ
D= (1)
B cos θ

Where λ is the wavelength of X-ray used, θ is the Bragg’s angle, β is the full width at half maximum (FWHM) in
radian. The lattice parameter for this cubic system was estimated by using the relation:

ଶ௦௜௡ఏ ଵ
= ඥሺℎଶ + ݇ ଶ + ݈ ଶ ሻ (2)
ఒ ௔

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.6986 NAAS Rating: 3.06

Dielectric Study of Bazr0.5Ti0.5O3 Ferroelectric Relaxor Ceramic 3

Specific surface area (surface area per unit mass) can be calculated by the following relation

6000
S= (3)
Dρ x

Where D is the crystallite size, is the X-ray density.

The X-ray density was calculated by using the formula

ZM
ρx = (4)
NV
Where M is the molecular weight of the samples, N is the Avogadro number, a is the lattice constant and 5 stands
for the number of formula units in a unit cell.

The lattice parameters for the BZT ceramic were a = b = c = 4.1005 A that confirms the cubic structure.
The crystallite size of the calcinated powder is calculate by Scherrer formula and found to be 55.31±0.01 nm. The strain
found 1.2× 10-3 and the X-ray density is 6.56 gm/cm3.

Figure 2: W-H Plot of BaZr0.5Ti0.5O3 Ceramic

The ceramic compositions were synthesized in the present study through successive calcinations and long time
sintering etc. These processing may be responsible for the formation of a single phase solid solution of the same.

Dielectric Analysis

Figure 3 shows the temperature dependences of dielectric constant of the BZT ceramic in the frequency range
20Hz to 2 MHz. Firstly, it can be found that the Curie temperature (TC), corresponding to the maximum relative
permittivity(ɛmax), of the BZT ceramic is 300K. . There is low temperature transition is also visualized near around 160 K
having a broad peak. The dielectric constant increases with increasing temperature and decreases as we go to higher
frequency range.

Cd
ε′= (5)
ε0A

www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us
 4 Renuka Chauhan & R. C. Srivastava

Figure 3 shows that the value of ε′ increases gradually to a maximum value (Tm) with increase in temperature up
to the transition temperature and then decreases smoothly, indicating a phase transition. The maximum of dielectric
permittivity, ε′ max and the corresponding temperature maximum Tm, depend upon the measurement frequency.
The magnitude of dielectric constant decreases with increase in frequency and the maximum is shifting to higher
temperature.

Figure 3: Dielectric Constant Behaviour of Samples in the

Temperature Range 80K To 450K at Different Frequencies

Dielectric tangent loss (tanδ) was calculated using the relation

ఌ"
tanδ= (6)
ఌ′

As shown in Figure 4, the dielectric loss values of the ferroelectric phase were reduced substantially at room
temperature in the paraelectric phase (above Tm). The imaginary part of the spectrum shows that there is an increase in
dielectric loss peak temperature with increase in frequency. This indicates that the dielectric polarization is of relaxation
type in nature such as dipolar glasses. In analogy with spin glasses, such a behavior of the dynamic susceptibility in
disordered ferroelectric is supposed to be concerned with the existence of the broad spectrum of relaxation times. It is
generally considered that the Debye model is based on the assumption of a single relaxation time. The model fails because
of the existence of a distribution of relaxation times. Such a distribution of relaxation time implies that the local
environment seen by individual dipoles differs from site to site. This is a reasonable assumption in amorphous materials.
As a rule [23], this relaxation occurs in disorder ionic structures, particular, in solid solutions.

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.6986 NAAS Rating: 3.06

Dielectric Study of Bazr0.5Ti0.5O3 Ferroelectric Relaxor Ceramic 5

Figure 4: Dielectric Loss Tangent (tanδ) Behaviour of the

Samples in the Temperature Range 80K to 450K

The result indicates that there is diffuse phase transition in the BZT ceramics. Diffuse phase transition is generally
characterized by broadening of the dielectric constant maximum at the transition temperature, a large separation between
the maxima of dielectric constant and dielectric loss and a deviation from the Curie-Weiss law in the vicinity of TC [24]. It
is known that the dielectric permittivity of a normal ferroelectric above the Curie temperature follows the Curie-Weiss law
described by

1/ε = (T − T0)/C (T >TC) (7)

Where T0 is the Curie-Weiss temperature and C is the Curie-Weiss constant.

The change of inverse dielectric constant with respect to temperature is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the
dielectric behavior doesn’t completely follow Curie-Weiss law at temperatures above the critical point (TC). According to
Curie-Weiss law, the Curie-Weiss temperature can be obtained from linear extrapolation of inverse dielectric constants in
the high-temperature region.

Figure 5: Temperature Dependence of the Inverse Permittivity of the

BZT Ceramic Prepared by Solid State Reaction Method

A modified Curie-Weiss law was proposed by Uchino et al. to describe the diffuseness of the ferroelectric phase
transition as [25]:

1/ε−1/εm= (T −Tm)γ /C′ (8)

Where γ and C′ are assumed to be constant, εm and Tm represent dielectric constant maximum and the

www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us
 6 Renuka Chauhan & R. C. Srivastava

corresponding temperature, γ is diffuseness constant. The parameter γ gives information on the character of relaxor
ferroelectric material: for γ = 1, a normal Curie-Weiss law is followed i.e. a normal ferroelectrics, whereas γ = 2 describe a
complete diffuse phase transition i.e. typical relaxor ferroelectrics. The plots of ln(1/ε−1/εm) as a function of ln(T−Tm) for
the BZT ceramics prepared by two methods are shown in Figure 5. A linear relationship is observed. The slope of the
fitting curves by Eq. (8) is used to determine the γ value.

The value of diffuseness constant γ is 1.74 which confirms the relaxor nature of BZT ceramic.

Figure 6: Dependence of ln (1/ε-1/εm) on ln(T-Tm) at 1.5MHz

The broadened dielectric maximum (in ε’ vs temperature curve) and its deviation from Curie–Weiss law are the
main characteristics of a diffuse phase transition of the material. The diffuse phase transition and deviation from Curie-
Weiss type law may be assumed to be due to disordering.

Figure 7: Dielectric Constant and Dielectric Loss Tangent (Tanδ) Behaviour of the BZT Ceramic in
the Frequency Range 75 Khz To 2mhz for Different Temperature (85, 294 And 441K)

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.6986 NAAS Rating: 3.06

Dielectric Study of Bazr0.5Ti0.5O3 Ferroelectric Relaxor Ceramic 7

Figure 7 shows the frequency dependency of dielectric constant and dielectric loss of BaZr0.5Ti0.5O3 ceramic.
The dielectric constant decreases with increasing frequency. The dielectric constants for all the temperature were very
stable in the frequency range 1 kHz to about 1 MHz. In general, dielectric constant decreases due to the decrease in
polarizability of the atoms in the structure. At high frequency, a dielectric loss peak is observed. As mentioned earlier,
several possible causes exist for such dispersion including the hypothesis of the influence of the contact resistance between
the probe and electrode, and resonance due to high dielectric constant. Similar frequency dispersion behavior was also
reported for other ferroelectric materials [27,28]. This behavior is verified by changing the electrode area.

CONCLUSIONS

The BZT ceramic was prepared by solid state reaction method at 1200 °C. The prepared BZT ceramic have single
perovskite phase with cubic symmetry. There are two transitions found in the dielectric behavior of BZT ceramic one is
near 200K and other is 330 K. The diffuseness constant is greater than 1 which indicates the relaxor ferroelectric
behaviour. Moreover, the dielectric properties and ferroelectric phase transition temperature (Tm) of BZT ceramics are
strongly dependent of Zr content in the lattice.

REFERENCES

1. M.E. Lines, A.M. Glass, Principles and Applications of Ferroelectrics and Related Materials, Claredon Press,
Oxford, p. 559 (1977).

2. Zuo-Guang Ye, Handbook of Advanced Dielectric Piezoelectric and Ferroelectric Materials, Woodhead, England,
p. 3(2008).

3. W. Li, Z. J. Xu, R. Q. Chu, et al., Structure and electrical properties of BaTiO3 prepared by sol–gel process. J.
Alloy. Compd. 482(1–2), 137–140 (2009).

4. X. H. Zhu, Z. H. Zhang, J. M. Zhu, et al., Morphology and atomic-scale surface structure of barium titanate
nanocrystals formed at hydrothermal conditions. J. Cryst. Growth. 311(8), 2437–2442 (2009).

5. H. Maie and B. I. Lee, The hydroxyl concentration and the dielectric properties of barium titanate nano-powder
synthesized by water-based ambient condition sol process. J. Mater. Sci: Mater Electron. 20(7), 619–627 (2009).

6. S. J. Kuang, X. G. Tang, L. Y. Li, et al., Influence of Zr dopant on the dielectric properties and Curie temperatures
of Ba(ZrxTi1−x)O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.12) ceramics. Scripta. Mater. 61(1), 68–71 (2009).

7. L. Wu, M. C. Chure, K. K. Wu, et al., Dielectric properties of barium titanate ceramics with different materials
powder size. Ceram. Int. 35(3), 957–960 (2009).

8. J. B. Xu, J. W. Zhai, and X. Yao, Structure and dielectric nonlinear characteristics of BaTiO3 thin films prepared
by low temperature process. J. Alloy. Compd. 467(1–2), 567–571 (2009).

9. C. L. Fu, H. Q. Chen, X. L. Deng, et al., Microstructure and ferroelectric properties of BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3 films
prepared by sol-gel. Integr. Ferroelectr. 107, 24–30 (2009).

10. D. Y. Wang, P. Yun, Y. Wang, et al., Influence of oxygen partial pressure on the structural and dielectric
properties of Ba(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 thin films grown on (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.35 (001) using pulsed laser

www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us
8 Renuka Chauhan & R. C. Srivastava

deposition. Thin. Solid. Films. 517(6), 2092–2098 (2009).

11. L. S. Cavalcante, M. Anicete-Santos, F. M. Pontes, et al., Effect of annealing time on morphological

characteristics of Ba(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films. J. Alloy. Compd. 437(1–2), 269–273 (2007).

12. W. Cai, J. C. Gao, M. Y. Zhang, et al., Effect of sintering temperature on diffuse phase transition of barium
zirconate titanate ceramics. Integr. Ferroelectr. 105, 1–10 (2009).

13. Dixit A, Majumder SB, Savvinov A, Katiyar RS, Guo R, Bhalla AS, Mater Lett 61:3685. (2002)

14. Hennings D, Schnell A, Simon G, J Am Ceram Soc 65:539(1982)

15. Ravez J, Simon A., Eur J Solid State Inorg Chem 34:1199(1997)

16. Tang XG, Chew K-H, Chan HLW, Act Mater 52:5177(2004)

17. Yun P, Wang DY, Ying Z, Zhou XY, Tian HY, Wang Y, Chan HLW, Ferroelectrics 357:121(2007)

18. Marques LGA, Cavalcante LS, Simo˜es AZ, Pontes FM, Santos- Ju´nior LS, Santos MRMC, Rosa ILV, Varela
JA, Longo E, Mater Chem Phys 105:293(2007)

19. Zhai J, Hu D, Yao X, Xu Z, Chen H, J Eur Ceram Soc 26:1917(2006)

20. Zhu XH, Li J, Zheng DN Appl Phys Lett 90:142913(2007)

21. Wu TB, Wu CM, Chen ML, Appl Phys Lett 69:2659(1996)

22. Xu J, Menesklou W, Ivers-Tiffe´e E, J Electroceram 13:229(2004)

23. M.E.Lines and A.M. Glass, Principles and applications of ferroelectrics and Related Materials, Clarendon,
Oxford, p.287 (1979).

24. X. G. Tang, J. Wang, X. X. Wang, et al., Effects of grain size on the dielectric properties and tunabilities of sol–
gel derived Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 ceramics. Solid. State. Commun. 131(3-4), 163–168 (2004).

25. K. Uchino and S. Nomura, Critical exponents of the dielectric constants in diffused-phase-transition crystals.
Ferroelectr. Lett. Sect. 44(1), 55–61 (1982).

26. B. D. Cullity (1978) Elements of X-ray Diffraction, London: Addison- Wesley.

27. C.H.Lu and C.Y. Wen, Mater.Lett. 38, 278(1999).

28. S.H.Kim, D.J.Kim, J.I.M.C.E. Kim and A.I.Kingon, J.Sol.gel.Sci. Technol. 16, 57(1999).

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.6986 NAAS Rating: 3.06